After the results of the 2020 United States presidential election determined U.S. president Donald Trump had lost, a scheme was devised by him, his associates and Republican Party officials in seven states to subvert the election by creating and submitting fraudulent certificates of ascertainment to falsely claim Trump had won the electoral college vote in those states.[1] The intent of the scheme was to pass the fraudulent certificates to then-vice president Mike Pence in the hope he would count them, rather than the authentic certificates, and thus overturn Joe Biden's victory. This scheme was defended by a fringe legal theory developed by Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and John Eastman, detailed in the Eastman memos, which claimed a vice president has the constitutional discretion to swap official electors with an alternate slate during the certification process, thus changing the outcome of the electoral college vote and the overall winner of the presidential race. The scheme came to be known as the Pence Card. By April 2024, dozens of Republican state officials and Trump associates had been indicted in four states for their alleged involvement. The federal Smith special counsel investigation is investigating Trump's role in the events. Testimony has revealed that Trump was fully aware of the fake electors scheme, and knew that Eastman's plan for Pence to obstruct the certification of electoral votes was a violation of the Electoral Count Act.[2][3]
Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, a "central figure" in the plot, coordinated the scheme across the seven states.[4][5] In a conference call on January 2, 2021, Trump, Eastman, and Giuliani spoke to some 300 Republican state legislators in an effort to persuade them to convene special legislative sessions to replace legitimate Biden electors with fake Trump electors based on unfounded allegations of vote fraud.[6] Trump pressured the Justice Department to falsely announce it had found election fraud, and he attempted to install a new acting attorney general who had drafted a letter falsely asserting such election fraud had been found, in an attempt to persuade the Georgia legislature to convene and reconsider its Biden electoral votes.[7]
Trump and Eastman asked Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel to enlist the committee's assistance in gathering fake "contingent" electors.[2] A senator's chief of staff tried to pass a list of fraudulent electors to Pence minutes before the vice president was to certify the election.[8] The scheme was one of many elements in the attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and was investigated by the January 6 committee and is being investigated by the Justice Department. The January 6 committee's final report identified lawyer Kenneth Chesebro as the plot's original architect.[7]
- ^ Cohen, Zachary; Cohen, Marshall (January 12, 2022). "Trump allies' fake Electoral College certificates offer fresh insights about plot to overturn Biden's victory". CNN. Archived from the original on January 13, 2022. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Haberman_Broadwater_7/26/2022was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Breuninger_6/22/2022was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cohen, Marshall; Cohen, Zachary; Merica, Dan (January 20, 2022). "Trump campaign officials, led by Rudy Giuliani, oversaw fake electors plot in 7 states". CNN. Archived from the original on January 20, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- ^ Fausset, Richard; Hakim, Danny (August 15, 2022). "Giuliani Is Told He Is a Target in Trump Election Inquiry in Georgia". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 2, 2023. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- ^ Helderman, Rosalind S. (February 9, 2022). "All the ways Trump tried to overturn the election — and how it could happen again". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 3, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- ^ a b Cohen, Zachary; Grayer, Annie; Herb, Jeremy; Sneed, Tierney; Cole, Devan; Sands, Geneva; Polantz, Katelyn; Rabinowitz, Hannah (December 23, 2022). "January 6 committee releases final report, says Trump should be barred from office". CNN. Archived from the original on January 16, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
- ^ Wu, Nicholas; Cheney, Kyle (June 21, 2022). "Ron Johnson tried to hand fake elector info to Mike Pence on Jan. 6, panel reveals". Politico. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
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